


The Stories We Tell About Ourselves

by godofpancakes (Vera_DragonMuse)



Series: Dinerverse [10]
Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-11
Updated: 2012-10-11
Packaged: 2017-11-16 02:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera_DragonMuse/pseuds/godofpancakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Who are we but the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and believe?”<br/>― Scott Turow, Ordinary Heroes</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot believe that this series is finally coming to a close. It was originally conceived as a trilogy and has long since overflown its boundaries. 
> 
> I must thank bettiebloodshed without whom these stories would not exist. She was Thor to my Loki and got me writing fanfiction again.
> 
> And thank you everyone that has kept reading over the past year and three months. Your comments make writing worth it. 
> 
> A note on the structure of this last piece. The first chapter is really the second half of Coming Home in Pieces. It's the second chapter that truly concludes the series which is why it's very different in tone.

The birthing room was barred shut. Loki stared blankly down at the locks, setting his palm against one. It would be the work of a moment to twist it out of the way. 

“What are you doing?” Thor asked, one hand already circling Loki’s wrist. 

“He’s calling to me.” The tug in his chest wasn't painful, but it was persistent. Like small hand tugging at his sleeve. 

“You cannot go in.” Thor pulled him away. “That is a woman’s place.” 

“You did not just say that to me.” He tugged his arm back. 

“You cannot attend to her like a midwife!” 

“Watch me!” 

The door slammed open under the force of his anger. His magic had been more wild since it’s return as if it overflowed the container of his body. It whipped around him, frantic to be doing. Thor claimed he could even taste it on his skin, something acidic in his sweat. 

“Consort,” one of his mother’s ladies in waiting rushed forward, “you cannot be here.” 

“Why not?” Frigga called out. “He can hold my hand as readily as you. Is it not traditional to have the consort with the queen while she labors?” 

“Traditionally the consort is a woman, my lady.” Some impertinent snot chimed in. 

Loki ignored them all. He swept by them, leaving Thor in the hallway and reached out to take the Frigga’s hand. She squeezed it hard and drew him closer in. Her eyes darted around the room, daring anyone to pry him from her side. None did. 

“He is your child as much as he is mine.” She said, too softly for anyone, but him to catch. 

“He’s well.” He didn't turn to look at her body, the last of the taboo boundaries that he was unwilling to cross. But he could hold her hand and talk to her. He could ease the tug in his chest and murmur assurances to the baby. “Eager to be born.” 

“Thor was just the same.” She threw back her head in a spasm of pain, sweating and glorious. 

The labor went on for hours. Loki never let go of her hand. He told her stories of earth, silly things like cooking on a small fire or constricting fashions or plots to movies. She listened, eyes on his face even as she went through terrible pains. Whatever had remained broken between them healed then, the sewing up of a wound that Loki had not realized still bled. 

“He’s crowning!” Someone shouted and then it all dissolved into pandemonium. Balder screamed his way into the world, echoing through the chamber and in Loki’s head. He was cold and afraid, but gloriously alive. 

“Look at those eyes.” Someone murmured. 

“Here my lady.” The baby was put into Frigga’’s waiting tired arms. 

“Hello, Balder.” She touched the baby’s cheek and the wispy dark hair on his head. “You are much wanted, my love.” 

“He’s very red.” Loki offered, his relief thick in his tongue. There wasn't a hint of blue to his skin. He knelt by the bed, dizzy in relief. “Hello, child.”

Balder stopped wailing. Stopped thrashing. He opened his eyes and they were a luminous green. 

“Look at that.” Frigga said in awe. “He’s lit up from the inside. What a brilliant soul he must have.” 

“I’m sorry.” Loki reached out and touched the baby’s forehead. “For the weight you will bear, little one.” 

“It’s a privilege.” Frigga insisted. “Or do you think your magic such a burden?” 

He didn’t answer. He only looked into the shining eyes and prayed. 

“What news?” Thor’s voice boomed through the door and the ladies in waiting went into lather, finding something to bundle the baby into and smoothing back Frigga’’s hair, draping her in a robe. 

“Come, Thorking and meet your heir.” They threw open the doors with so much pomp and circumstance that Loki had to hide a laugh in his palm. Frigga shot him an affectionate quelling look. For a single moment, he was a child again. 

“How small he is.” Thor marveled. He wore nothing ceremonial and despite the women’s fluttering, the atmosphere stayed warm and intimate. “Were we ever so tiny?” 

“You were.” Frigga confirmed with a proud smile. “Your father held you in the palm of his hand.” 

“And his grip faltered.” Loki joked dryly. “Which explains much.” 

“You only guess that whereas I know for a fact that I dropped you on more than one occasion.” Thor put an arm around Loki’s shoulders, drawing him close. Apparently the earlier scene in the hall was already forgiven. “His eyes are unusual.” 

“It’s the magic.” Loki reached out again, this time to draw his finger over one small foot kicked loose from the blankets. “Perhaps in time he will learn to hide it.” 

“And why should he?” Thor leaned over, examining the baby more closely. “I think they’re wonderful.” 

“You would.” Loki muttered, but he could not prevent a smile from breaking wide over his face. 

Although the queen was technically meant to remain in confinement with a child for the first year, Frigga started taking Balder out and about within weeks. Loki walked always at her side, wary of courtiers who might see the infant as easy bit of ransom. They had powerful enemies now that Thor sat upon the throne. Many because they loathed Loki and what they saw as a perversion of the marriage bonds. But there was a surprising amount of people who simply did not believe that Thor made a capable king. 

“You give me too much credit.” Thor had sighed when Loki expressed his confusion. “How is it that you no longer recall all the time it was you that said I was unfit to rule?” 

“I remember them.” Loki countered. “But I always believed I would be there. Between the two of us we make a good king.” 

“We can only prove it to them through action.” 

It was a workable plan, but Loki could see long years spread before them with doubt and anger meeting them at every corner. Odin had been king too long and left his people unable to adjust to the idea of anyone else upon the throne. Even their supporters often mentioned what Odin might have done or said, even when it varied only a little from Thor had done or said. It was enough to drive a man mad. 

“I need a vacation.” Loki decided after one grueling council session. He had gone directly back to the Balder and Frigga. 

“So take one. You are consort, not king. They do not care so much about your comings and goings.” Frigga plopped the baby into his arms. 

“I worry for you.” He admitted, taking the boy smoothly. 

“I am not without my own protections.” She kissed his forehead. “Go back to Midgard. See your friends. We will be here when you return.” 

“Thor won’t like it.” The baby gurgled at reached for his nose. 

“I think it’s a grand idea!” Thor said that night as they lay naked and sweating over the furs of their bed. “You must bring with you all my love. Perhaps in a years time, we can both be free to travel. I miss Midgard.” 

“So do I.” The pang was surprising as he spoke. He thought often of his old life and how he had already broken his promise to return in the autumn. It would be winter now and his spot left empty in the graduate classes he had once looked forward to. 

“You preferred it there.” Thor ventured, one hand cupping Loki’s hip. “You were..happier, I think.” 

“I’m happy.” He turned, throwing one leg over Thor’s powerful thigh. “You make me very happy.” 

“But I will be here for all ages.” Leaning forward, Thor brushed a kiss over Loki’s forehead. “Darcy and Jane and Erik will not be. They are mortal and their lives will pass too quickly.” 

“I was trying not to think about that.” He sighed. “What do you suggest?” 

“You’re the clever one.” Thor eased his hand over Loki’s spine, caressing the mighty trunk of Yggdrasil, his thumb seeking out Mjolnir at it’s base. “Come up with a compromise. Perhaps your visit will inspire something.” 

The next morning, he threw open his wardrobe and reached for the box that he kept in the back, away from the hands of curious attendants. He dressed in black jeans and dark blue t-shirt with -273.15٥C Totally Chilled picked out in white lettering pulled over a ratty long sleeved shirt. Lacing up his boots, his spine relaxed and his shoulders stopped tensing as though they were carrying the weight of the world upon them. 

“I would like a pair of those.” Frigga determined when she saw him. She pointed at the jeans. “They look very comfortable.” 

“You’ll cause a scandal.” He said gleefully. “I’ll bring you a few. And not the awful mommy ones either.” 

“I am a mother.” She replied and he laughed, kissed her cheek and then pressed his lips to Balder’s forehead. A small tendril of magic reached back for him, still weak and undirected. “I’ll be back soon.” 

“Have fun.” Thor drew him close, kissed him hard. “Don’t break New Mexico.” 

“Those seem like directly contradictory orders.” Groused Loki, before turning to Heimdall. “I’m ready.” 

He touched down with a sickening lurch onto the sand that glittered under the moon’s gaze. It was cold, so he manifested a black hoodie. The cool air couldn't really touch him anymore, but he wanted to blend in. 

With a quick jolt of power, his cellphone flickered back to life after a it’s long dormant sleep. Darcy’s line rang out into her rambling voicemail message, so he tried Jane’s. More ringing. Then Erik. More ringing. It was late, judging by the moon’s slump back towards the earth. The walk into town was miles long. With a tight frown, he flickered out and landed himself neatly outside their apartment door. 

_Home_ he thought, a knife twisting in his chest. The door looked just as he remembered it. Instead of knocking, he fumbled with his keys and slotted the right one home. It felt good, turning the knob and it could have have been any night after a late shift at the diner. 

The sense of wrongness met him immediately. The apartment didn’t smell like Darcy’s hairspray or the herbs they’d left to dry too long in the kitchen. It didn’t smell lived in at all. Their things were still there: the battered couch and a pile of textbooks smeared over the rickety coffee table. He moved in silence, fear growing in the pit of his stomach. 

The kitchen smelled of mouldering food, a glass of water sat on the table and the sink was full of dishes. The door to Darcy’s room was open, her drawers half opened and clothes spilling out. Some of her makeup had been removed, but without any rhyme or reason. Like she had snatched it in handfuls. 

“Son of a bitch.” He swore, the words echoing back to him in the silence. For completions sake, he checked his old bedroom. She must have kept his things just as he’d left them, but it was clear they had been rifled through. The box of electronics scattered over the floor and the sketches he’d drawn were gone from their drawer. He was painfully grateful that he’d taken the marriage quilt back with them. He wasn’t sure he could have borne it if it had been ransacked with the rest of it. 

There were no clues as to who had come here, but he had a short list of suspects. Another flicker and he stood in Jane’s lab. Here they had been more thorough. Not a scrap of her research or her jerry rigged equipment was left. They would have come in while she was sleeping or away, capturing her separately. 

He needed a computer. He flickered out again after one last look around the barren lab that had once given him new life. Outside those doors, he had taken up a new name and bought fresh clothes. Inside, Jane had showed him the beauty of math that lay beneath his magic. He still thought in equations as he made his illusions, his homage to her. 

The library was deserted at 4am. No one noticed a computer booting up without being touched or the sound of keys clacking at an impossible rate. The screen jumped and shuddered, the internet reached out and made connections to places that technically were far off the grid. Jack had been good with computers and Loki could build on that knowledge, reach farther and do more. 

None of his suspects had announced any new discoveries in the last six months. But one of them had received a sudden influx of government funding. He ran down the money to a sprawling base with deep underground facilities. 

“Naughty, naughty.” He tsked and called up blueprints that should never have been loaded on to a mainframe. Someone had been sloppy. Their poor job was his gain. 

When the clerk came in that morning, the computer was still on with it’s fan rattling at double speed. The screen flashed a luminous green at her as she restarted it. The computer sputtered once and died. 

Loki cloaked himself in shadow and slipped by guard after guard. Nothing saw him, not camera, not sharp-eyed guards, not heat sensors set into the walls or pressure plates in the wall. Just as he felt Balder, he could feel what lay beneath the ground. It pulsed through the floors, a gate and a promise of infinite power. That was where they would be keeping Jane. If he could find Jane, they could locate Darcy. 

He didn’t have a plan. His mind raced and scattered, half-mad with held back grief and guilt. He should have stayed, should have offered more protection or given them a way to contact him. As he descended, he drew the cuffs of the hoodie over his hands and willed them to cease shaking. 

When he finally reached the bottom of the enormous well, his breath stuttered his throat. 

“You should not be here.” He told the cube. It brightened his presence, singing a piercing note through the air. 

“The readings are spiking!” A familiar voice shouted. Erik. 

But Loki could not look for Jane, could not seek out her tousled blond hair from the frantic scientists. The Tesseract was a siren’s call. He reached out and caressed one side of it. The world fell away. 

_He landed in the lab, a scepter in one hand and madness in his mind. Loki choked at the rage that filled him, the sorrow and a mind torn through with jagged pain. It was all too familiar and yet, so very distant. A half-remembered pain._

_Without his bidding, his arms reached out and power beyond reckoning flew from him. He knocked Erik to the floor. He turned his scepter on a man clad in black leather and he could feel the corruption of it in his bones. He fought hard as his body reached for Erik, melting his mind into obedient slag._

_“Stop this!” He cried, the words echoing around the walls of his mind. “Have you lost your senses?”_

_“Quiet.” And it’s Fenrir’s voice, all sibilant and dark as pitch. “You should not be noticed.”_

_“Where am I?” He whispered._

_“This is the fate we would have you avoid.” Fenrir huffed an annoyed breath. “We did not think you would seek it out.”_

_“I didn’t. The humans have the Tesseract. I touched it and...”_

_“This is our world.” Fenrir said bitterly. Loki was aware of his body jumping into the back of a truck, the building going to ruins around him. “Not yet, of course. But this is the beginning of the end.”_

_“I have a brother now. He has your eyes.” He wanted to fold Fenrir into his arms and kiss his forehead the way he did Balder’s. “Not the right color, but the quality.”_

_“He is of our line then. You must watch him closely.”_

_“How do I get back?” He asked after a long pause. There was gunfire blazing around him. “I don’t want to see this.”_

_“You never really came here. Just enough that we could sense you. You need only open your eyes and step back from the Tesseract.”_

_“Where are Hel and Jormungand?”_

_“Waiting. They have said their goodbyes to you.” Fenrir sighed, a soft, thready exhale more human than wolf. “I do not think I will ever be finished with that.”_

_“It was you I saw first.” Loki mused. The truck veered wildly. His body clung hard and the mind adjacent poured bile all over his thoughts. “It was you that always truly speaks.”_

_“I’m the oldest.”_

_“I bore you. I held you in my body and brought you into this world. I raised you.” Loki said softly. “You, of all of them, knew me. How closely you must have watched for other realities. Waiting for one you could influence.”_

_“You can’t know-” Fenrir’s voice broke as if the connection had gone bad, then returned with full strength. “I have no regrets. I can live with you as you are, if I know elsewhere you are happy.”_

_“What a good son you are.” Loki marveled. Even as a child when he still loved Odin in the heedless way children loved their parents, he would never have thought to wonder if his father was happy._

_“You are a good father.”_

_“I’m not sure how. I can taste the poison of my mind.”_

_“It’s worse than you suspect.” Fenrir said quietly. “But also not quite as bad. You love us. Me. When the time comes, I will do what you ask of me. This world will end. Centuries from now, but it will. All the worlds.”_

_“I’m sorry that that falls to you.” He wished once more to hold the wolf to him. Perhaps Fenrir was ancient, older than this version of himself, but at the moment he sounded as vulnerable as a child. “I’m so sorry that I will ask that of you.”_

_“I’m not.” Fenrir somehow licked his face and he felt it though the body did not react. “Wake from this nightmare.”_

_“Good bye, my son.”_

_“Goodbye, Dad.”_

Loki opened his eyes. The Tesseract pulsed. He took two careful steps backwards. 

“Back to normal levels!” Erik shouted. “What the hell was that?” 

“That was me.” Loki dropped his cloaking and offered up a weak smile. “Hello, Erik.” 

“Damnit boy.” Erik stared at him, hands loose at his sides. “Where have you been?” 

“Oh. Here and there.” He laughed shakily. “I came to find you and Jane and Darcy. It looks like they were stolen in the dead of night.” 

“That’s because we were.” And then Darcy was on him, all floral shampoo, elbows and boa constrictor grip. “You complete asshole. You are so late.” 

“I’m sorry.” He held her tightly, took in the scent and feel of her. “I was a little busy.” 

“What was more important than coming back here and rescuing us?” She didn’t back off, only held him impossibly tighter. Had he still been mortal, his ribs would have creaked. “Seriously, this place is dullsville.” 

“They didn’t hurt you?” He asked, anxious and ready to boil over if required. 

“No. They were actually kind of polite about the abduction. Then once they explained what they were doing, Jane got all wild eyed and started demanding better stuff.” She finally released him enough that he could look her over. She seemed alright. A little pale maybe, but otherwise utterly Darcy. “S.H.E.I.L.D. is totally her bitch now.” 

“Ms. Lewis, please stand aside.” A clear, sharp voice said from behind Loki. He released her and pressed her tightly behind him. The agent that he’d brainwashed in the other reality was pointing an arrow at his nose. “Who are you?” 

“That’s a complicated question.” Loki said with a laugh. “But for your purposes...I am Loki, Consort to Thorking of Asgard. This artifact belongs to my people. I would very much know how it came to be in your possession. Also, I require a face to face meeting with Dr. Foster. Possibly with a few pints of ice cream.” 

“It’s true.” Erik cut in. “You’ll want to put down that weapon, son. It won’t work on the likes of him.” 

“He looks human enough.” 

Finally. An opening for a little fun. Loki disappeared, reappeared behind the agent and took one of the arrows from his quiver, then flashed before him again. 

“I’m not human.” He twirled the arrow and then to drive the point home, thrusting it through his hand. 

“Holy shit!” Darcy jumped back. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” 

“Nothing.” He drew it out again, blowing over the wound. His magic wasn’t very good with healing, but the wound was relatively small. It sealed over as he tossed the arrow back at the agent. To the man’s credit, he caught it. “Now. Take me to your leader.” 

“Show off.” Darcy accused though she easily accepted his arm around her shoulders. “They don’t have Jane hidden away or anything by the way. She just passed out in her room after forty-eight straight hours of data crunching.” 

“I was worried.” He squeezed her arm, delicate and light. 

“Yeah, so was I. So fair’s fair.” She sighed. “Really, where were you?” 

“Trying to keep Asgard away from the brink of civil war. Rather difficult considering I mostly caused it.” He shrugged. “Apparently marrying your brother and then him getting crowned makes people pissy. Who knew?” 

“Mr. Loki?” The man with the eyepatch entered the room, black leather jacket sweeping dramatically out behind him. 

Loki was painfully reminded that he was wearing ratty jeans and a hoodie. With his piercings and ponytail, he doubted he painted a particularly intimidating picture. And he damn well wasn’t shifting into his armor after that little hellicious journey through the looking glass. 

“Consort.” He corrected. Standing up a little straighter, he dropped his arm from Darcy’s shoulders. “Technically, I’m Queen, but people seem not to like calling me that to my face.” 

“I will totally call you Queen.” Darcy said through a toothy grin. 

“Stand down, Ms. Lewis.” Eyepatch barked. 

“Darcy is my liaison.” Loki cut in. 

“No offense, Consort, but you just disarmed one of my top agents. The trust doesn't start here.” 

“I can’t hurt her.” He crossed his arms over his chest. Against his will the hoodie shimmered a little, hinting at green and gold robes beneath. 

“I sincerely doubt that.” 

“Bet me a ten spot?” Loki winked at Darcy, then easily lifted Eyepatch’s gun. He aimed it straight at Darcy. He took aim and fired. The invisibleshield he’d set when she’d tucked in under his arm shimmered a little and held. The bullet fell harmlessly to the floor along with the arrow the agent had let loose at the same time, attempting to get to Loki. Darcy, bless her, hadn’t so much as blinked. 

“What the hell-” 

“Here.” Loki offered the gun back butt up. Eyepatch took it from him slowly. “I come in peace.” 

“Wicked.” Darcy reached out, trying to find the shield. “How’d you do that?” 

“It’s a protective spell. It’ll hold for a few years without a renewal. It won’t stop everything. Just ranged projectiles.” 

“Best bulletproof vest ever.” She punched him in the arm. “Don’t shoot me.” 

“Sorry.” 

“I take it you two know each other.” Looked like Eyepatch was getting a headache. 

“Jack Icarus.” An agent in a stiff suit appeared at Eyepatch’s back, a small computer in his hands. “Amnesia patient in New Mexico. He was what came through the portal two years ago and what went out last summer. The data all matches up.”

“Yep. That’s me.” He spread his hands wide. “Accidental tourist.” 

“And it never came up in your reports, Ms. Lewis?” Eyepatch frowned. 

“He was just a guy.” She crossed her arms definitely over her chest. “My friend. You guys haven’t been friendly. All abductions and iPod stealing.” 

“They took your iPod?” 

“I know, right?” She sighed heavily. “They lost it in transit supposedly. I think there’s just some agent jamming out to my tunes in his pathetic cubicle.” 

“I don’t have your iPod.” The suited agent said calmly. 

“You said the Tesseract belonged to your people.” Eyepatch said, clearly trying to escape whatever argument Darcy was trying to pick. 

“It does. This was a part of Odinking’s collection for many years. It went missing many centuries ago to some concern. It was believed to have been stolen.” He didn’t reach out for it though it sang on, tempting and rich. “This is not a piece of technology you should have. It is beyond your understanding. Not to mention, it’s a huge beacon for the other worlds. You’re going to have some serious Mars Attacks issues if you keep poking at it.”

“And you intend to steal it back? Take it off our hands?” 

“If I wanted to play it that way, I would already been gone.” Loki said mildly. “You’ve seen what I can do. And trust me, if you have to deal with an Asgardian monarch then you want it to be me. My husband is far less reasonable.” 

“It’s true.” Darcy piped up. “You should see Thor’s weapon. It’s massive. Heh. So’s his hammer.” 

“Really?” Loki turned to her. “Is now the time?” 

“It’s always the time.” She replied levelly. “If you disagree, we are no longer friends.” 

“...it is pretty massive.” He agreed, then turned back to the assembled agents. “Ok. So why don’t we sit around a table like reasonable, boring bureaucrats and do some diplomacy?” 

The conference table was unnecessarily crowded on the S.H.I.E.L.D. side. The agents had names now. Barton stood by the door, an arrow nocked despite the earlier display. Coulson sat at Fury’s right hand with a pile of documents and laptop open. On Fury’s left hand side was a woman poured into a leather bodysuit who had introduced herself only as Hill. Erik had been pushed to the far left and he occasionally drank from a flask, mostly looking bored. 

“I’m not sure Ms. Lewis should be here.” Hill pointed out when she came in. 

“You don’t want to have that argument.” Barton said thinly. 

“I knew I liked you.” Loki grinned at him. Barton fingered an arrow. 

“Let’s begin.” Fury’s voice cut through the room, calm and final. “What is your proposal, Consort?” 

“It’s simple.” It had taken an hour for everyone to come in. Presumably they had contacted their superiors. Loki didn’t really care. It had given him time to further assure himself that Darcy was only annoyed by the abduction and not harmed. After that, he could plan. He was good with plans. “Asgard would like the artifact brought back to it’s rightful home. It would be a symbolic gesture for the beginning of a new friendship. This world is, quite frankly, woefully unprepared to deal with what lies beyond what you refer to as the Einstein-Rosen bridge. I allowed Jane to continue her research at the time because I assumed it would stay within her hands as a theoretical effort.” 

“Allowed?” Darcy asked, incredulously. He kicked her ankle under the table. 

“Asgard is willing to offer protection.” Well. They would be once Loki had explained the situation to Thor. “We have acted in that capacity before. It’s how our names wound up in your myths. Odinking fought the Jotunheim upon your shores.” 

“You’re saying the Odin of Norse myth is real?” 

“Unfortunately.” Loki wrinkled his nose. “He’s currently unavailable for comment. My husband, his son, serves as king in his place.” 

“Right. Thor, you said. So the God of Thunder is up there?” Fury waved vaguely at the sky. 

“Yes. Though he’s more in that direction.” He pointed unerringly towards Asgard. The location was inscribed in his blood. “God is a strong word though. I would assume gods snore less loudly and do not leave their wet towels on the floor.” 

“He still does that?” Darcy snorted. “I thought you’d have him whipped by now.” 

“That becomes more difficult when you have servants.” 

“So Asgard is running a protection racket?” Fury broke in. “We pay you and you don’t break our knees?” 

“There are others in your heavens and not all are as fond of humanity as we.” Loki said as gently as he knew how. Which wasn’t very much at all. “Thor and I have a great fondness for this world, Director. Do not mistake that for a universal sentiment. You are a man of war. Imagine this world as America. You are the Native Americans. The Europeans are coming in their tall ships and they have weapons of fire and metal. They have diseases you’ve never heard of and animals you’ve never seen.” 

“How do we know you tell the truth?”

“Why would I lie? I told you already, I could take the Tesseract from you without this conversation. I could have removed my friends from this place and hid so well that you would never find us.” Loki sat back. “I offer friendship. You may take it or leave it. Either way I will get what I require.” 

The talks went on for hours longer, but Loki knew he had either lost or won in that instant. Fury was difficult to read and after that, he spoke no more. Coulson and Hill peppered him and Darcy with questions, barely teetering on the line between conversation and interrogation. For his part, Loki leaned back in his chair until two legs were off the ground and answered lazily. 

“If we do this,” Fury said when the pile of empty coffee cups threatened to bury them all, “we’ll need to meet with King. He’ll have to talk to some of our high ranking officials.” 

“I choose not to take that as insult.” He banged his chair back to the ground. “He’ll tell you that I speak for him. Like Hephaestion and Alexander.” 

Only Coulson looked back at him with some kind of understanding and Loki mentally awarded him a few points. 

“I’d like to hear it from him.” Fury repeated. “The President will probably want to meet him.” 

“Oh, Thor loves him!” Darcy laughed. “Remember? You used to make him watch CNN like you could cram leadership skills into his head. He thought Obama was bitchin’.” 

“I think the word he used was ‘interesting’, but he probably would have said bitchin’ if he’d picked that one up.” Loki made a mental note to teach it to him as soon as possible. “I’ll need a large unpopulated area. The Bridge isn’t exactly pinpoint precision. Oh. And Dr. Foster. If something goes wrong on this end, she’d be the only person who could fix it.” 

Not that Heimdall would allow anything to go wrong, but Loki figured Jane was caught up on her beauty sleep and he wanted to see her. 

Three hours later with his two best girls at his back and the sun rising over a desolate tundra, Loki felt right at home. Fury and the other agents stood well back, weapons at the ready. Loki rolled his eyes at them. 

“They think you’re going to call down some kind of army on them.” Jane reminded him. She was still smiling like she’d won the lottery and the ache in his cheeks told him he’d been returning it the whole time. 

“Thor counts as an army.” Darcy pulled the red hood of her sweatshirt over her hair. “He eats like one anyway.” 

“The diplomatic dinners should be interesting.” Loki allowed, then rubbed his hands together. “Heimdall, hear my call! I speak to you as Consort and beg your indulgence. I require the king’s presence. Please emphasize that there is no danger. He is required to finalize a diplomatic negotiation.” 

There was a brief, noticeable pause like Midgard itself was holding it’s breath. Then the sky cracked open and a peal of thunder shattered through the otherwise cloudless night. Thor landed hard, going down to one knee before regaining his feet. He was in his armor, but instead of his ridiculous helm he had donned the crown that had once rested on Odin’s brow. Not for the first time, Loki was struck by how truly kingly he looked. 

“My liege.” He bowed, with an ironic twist to his mouth. 

“My love, what have you done now?” Thor strode forward, putting one hand to the small of Loki’s back and dipping him backwards into a claiming bruise of a kiss. 

“Hi.” Loki said in a daze when Thor pulled away. 

“Lady Jane and Lady Darcy!” The king of Asgard enveloped two fragile mortals into bear hug. “I have missed you both.” 

“Director Fury, this is my husband and my king.” Loki found a smile from somewhere. “Thor, this is the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.” 

“Greetings!” Thor bellowed. “I bring tidings of peace and friendship from Asgard!” 

“He looks good.” Darcy said quietly. “Happy.” 

“Does he?” Loki studied the strong line of Thor’s shoulders as he shook the hand of each agent and favoring them with his broad smile. 

“Guess you’re doing something right.” 

“Better than doing something wrong.” He agreed vaguely. 

He thought of Fenrir, stretching himself across the barriers of space and time to find a way to make his father happy. Maybe it was something he had inherited from Loki after all. Even the mad, rageful one. 

“My Consort speaks for me.” Thor told Fury in a laughing boom. “His words are mine.” 

“Who’s Hephaestion anyway?” Darcy propped her chin on Loki’s shoulder though she had to stretch up on her tiptoes to do so.” 

“When Alexander the Great conquered the world, Hephaestion was the one at his side. The greatest love of his life. When one woman confused Hephaestion with Alexander, Alexander himself said ‘You were not mistaken, Mother; this man too is Alexander.’” 

“So they gave you guys a run for your money in the co-dependency derby.”

“Nice, Darce.” Jane sniped, elbowing her. 

“The truth hurts.” Darcy rubbed at her ribs with annoyance. 

“Loki!” Thor called out, holding out one hand without turning to look for him. “Come. We have much to discuss.” 

“Not a dog, my liege.” Loki shouted back, but he went and took the offered hand with a smile. 

“You were quick to find your compromise.” Whispered Thor as they were led back to the conference room for what Loki could only assume was another round of talks. 

“What do you mean?” 

“You will be Asgard’s diplomat to Midgard.” 

“Will I?” It hadn’t even occurred to him. He assumed they would assign someone. Perhaps Sif, who had lately become enthralled with the possibility of travel. “My place is by your side.” 

“And so you will be. But you do not have to be there every waking moment. I am not such a fool that I cannot get through a day on the throne without you.” 

“I know.” He bit his lip, worrying at it as the walked. “What if you find you have no need of me at all?” 

“Don’t say foolish things.” Thor snorted. “I will always have need of you. You were my brother and my husband before you were my Consort.” 

“I could bring Balder here when he’s older.” He squeezed Thor’s hand. “We could start a new trend. Children of both worlds.” 

“And one day perhaps, we can bridge the divide between Asgard and Jotunheim in the same fashion.” 

“They will be harder one than Midgard.” 

“Then they will be twice as sweet in the winning.” 

“Thorking,” Fury opened the door to a dark room, a different conference room with screens ranging from wall to wall, “the council is ready for you.” 

“Good.” Thor stepped into the room, Loki close on his heels. “I am ready to finish the work that my father once began.”


	2. Chapter 2

The great warrior chased the ice giant across the plains. He let out a mighty bellow and launched himself upwards to tackle the giant to the ground. Their great battle rolled them across the ground until the ice giant cheated and began to tickle the great warrior.

“No!” Howled the warrior. “Cheater!”

The ice giant laughed and leaned down to blow a raspberry on the warrior’s stomach. 

“Your enemy will sometimes cheat, little one.” Loki laughed, melting back into his Aesir face. “You cannot expect them to play fair if you mean to kill them.”

“But there are rules.” The boy whined, no longer the great warrior.

“Rules are sometimes broken.” Loki stood and helped Balder to his feet. He held his hand as they crossed back across the field to where a picnic was waiting for them.

He watched the boy eat with faint pride. Though he was only a handful of years old, he was already quite strong and clever. His eyes remained the otherworldly green, a bright spark of his heritage that could never be dimmed. Beside that trace of Loki, he looked very much like Thor though his nose was finer and his jaw not nearly as square. 

“Tell me a story.” He demanded.

“Say please and chew with your mouth closed and I might consider it.” Loki picked a grape, letting it dance idly between his fingers. 

“Please, tell me a story.” Balder repeated dutifully. “The one about Fenrir.” 

“Again?” Loki sighed. “Of all the story’s in the world, why that one?”

“It’s my favorite.” That stubbornness could be seated on Thor’s shoulders, Loki decided, but sighed and began:

Once there was a boy and he was not Aesir nor Jotun nor Midgardian. Yet, he was all of them too. It was very confusing, no one seemed to understand him and the boy wept bitter tears over it. He became hard as stone and angry as fire. He used terrible magics to make himself every stronger and resolved that if he could not be a part of any world, then he would control them all. 

But first he needed tools and an army. He alone could not conquer the whole of Yggdrasil. So he traveled until he found a cloak that wrapped him in shadows, boots that carried him great distances and a spear that could blood any enemy. Very soon, he was sure that he was invulnerable. He would pay for his arrogance. 

He came across a world that looked barren and cold as a moon. The long travels left him weary, so he lay down in the snow wrapped in his warm shadow cloak and slept. Now this world was not as barren as he had thought. Animals lived there, animals grown wise and thoughtful. The moved over the snow swiftly and without sound. The fiercest of them were a pack of wolves that were as large as houses. Just one of their teeth stood as tall as a full grown man. 

They came upon the sleeping man, their noses too good to be tricked by a cloak made of shadows. 

“What is this?” The leader asked the others. 

“Perhaps it is a foolish mortal, stumbled here from another world. Let’s eat him up.” Said one. 

“Perhaps it is a frost giant, come to wage war. Let’s eat him up.” Said another. 

“Perhaps it is a one of Odin’s, come to trick and steal. Let’s eat him up.” Said the leader, eager not to look foolish. 

“No.” Said the oldest wolf, his muzzle scarred and one eye sealed shut. “He is only himself. A man without country, made only of rage and magic. If we eat him, he will tear us apart from the inside out in revenge.”

“What should we with him then Father?” The leader asked wearily. 

“Leave him with me. It is nearing my dying time.” The old wolf settled himself next to the sleeping man. “I would rather die here and do this last deed.” 

“As you wish.” The leader agreed. 

The pack said their goodbyes and they left behind the old wolf and the slumbering man. When the man finally woke, he raised his spear to the wolf. 

“Peace.” The old wolf barked. “I could have eaten you while I slept, but did not. Set down your weapon.” 

“What do you want?” The man did not set down his weapon. 

“You wish to conquer the worlds, do you not?” The old wolf asked. 

“How do you know that?” 

“I have lived long, little one, and smelled many things. You reek of death and the bringing of the end of things.” 

“I don’t wish to end anything.” The man dropped the tip of his spear into the snow. “I only seek to rule.” 

“Your rule will poison the roots of the great tree. You will kill everything you touch.” 

“No!” The man protested. Because deep under the fear and the anger, he still had his heart. Sealed there secret under stone and fire was a deep fathomless pond. Hidden at the bottom of that pond was the last jewel of love that the man held. For he had a lover once, a man as beautiful as the rising sun and truer than the finest arrow. No matter how the fire raged or how hard the stone grew, it always protected that glittering memory. The man did not wish to bring the end to his lover, even if he cared nothing at all for the rest of the worlds. 

“There is a way to prevent this.” Said the old wolf. “But you must set aside your quest for a while. Time is nothing to you, a insubstantial cost.” 

“How long?” 

“Enough to raise a child.” 

“Who would trust me with such a thing?” The man laughed bitter as lemons. 

“I would. Are we agreed?” 

“What do you wish in return?” 

“I do not wish to see the worlds destroyed any more than you.” The old wolf huffed. “My grandchildren run with my pack and I would know that their pups and all the generations that come will have a chance to run wild across the tundra with the sun on their backs and snow under their paws.” 

“We are agreed then.” 

The old wolf took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly over the man. Then he shuddered once and died, right there at the man’s feet. Out of obligation, the man built him a funeral pyre. Already he could feel something new shifting under his skin. He built a cabin out of the logs he had used for the pyre, protected from the other wolves and beasts by the ashes that lingered on them. The world changed under his feet, snow turning to melt and the sun shining more often. It was tundra no more. 

One day as he gathered his meager meal, he was doubled over by pains. He sweated and ached and bellowed out to the heartless stars. He thought he was dying. Perhaps the old wolf had seen a way to kill him in a long and vicious way. Darkness took him. 

When he woke, a wolf cub was asleep on his chest still sticky with birth fluids. 

“Hello child.” 

“Hello Dad.” The little pup opened it’s eyes and they were a luminous yellow. 

“What is your name?” 

“I do not know.” The pup blinked long and slow. “You must name me.” 

“We live here in the fen. I will call you Fenrir.” 

And so he did. The man loved his son more fiercely than he thought possible. The jewel in the pond of his heart was joined by another. Fenrir loved his father with impossible dedication. They had only each other, living their days on the fen. 

It would have been a good forever, but the man never forgot his purpose. He trained Fenrir to be a warrior and the wolf grew tall and strong, larger than any other. 

“You could eat the sun.” The man often said affectionately over their meals. 

“I would if you asked me.” Fenrir said. 

“One day I might.” 

When Fenrir grew no more, the man decided it was time to leave. 

“I must travel. You do not need to come with me.” 

“Where else would I go?” Fenrir picked the man up and settled him on his back. 

They traveled together and the man found again his taste for violence and anger. With his son by his side, he crushed the Nine Worlds under his heels. Other children came from his body, a snake that could eat the world and a woman half alive and half-dead. But none loved him as Fenrir loved him. 

Only Fenrir saw that their father change. How his madness burned away at the still pond and razed to the ground all that he once cared for. 

“Father is mad.” Fenrir told his siblings in the dark of a night that had lasted too long. “Soon we will bring about the end of all things.” 

“Good.” Said Jogurmand. “I grow tired.” 

“Good.” Said Hel. “Then all the dead will come to me and I will sleep.” 

“No. I was born to prevent this.” Fenrir told them. “I cannot allow it.” 

And he was the eldest, so they bent to his will. They too loved their father beneath his madness. They too understood what it was to love beyond reason. 

So they worked a powerful spell. They reached across the worlds and plucked the strings of fate from the hands of the Norns themselves. So powerful were the man’s children that they could do this and not die for their troubles. 

Their eyes burned with their magics, their feet flew swiftly over the worlds and their voices were heard in every corner of the many universes that are held together by the thinnest of threads. 

“What have you done?” Their father asked when all had been set in motion. 

“I have saved you.” Fenrir declared. He made himself small as a puppy and curled at his father’s feet. “Because I love you.” 

“Ah.” The man knelt down and put his hands into warm fur. “But you have changed nothing here, my son.” 

“I accept that I cannot change this. But somewhere, across the many worlds, you do not come to ruin.” 

“This is not ruin, this is fate.” 

“A man bound in the threads of the Norn lies in ruins.” Fenrir told him and licked a long stripe up his father’s hand. “I have set you free.” 

 

Loki smiled at Balder, who was listening with wide open eyes. 

“But what about that world?” The boy asked. 

“I know not.” Loki sighed. “It's only a story.” 

“You’re not telling him about your crazy alternate universe theories again are you?” Darcy crossed through the meadow, sitting down on the edge of the blanket to reach for the last of the bread. 

“It’s my favorite story.” Balder told her, snagging a piece of cheese before she could take that too. 

“It’s so violent. Aren't you supposed to protect kids from that stuff?” She bit at the bread, crumbs tumbling to the blanket. 

“It’s his story. Every child has a right to know where he came from.” Loki raised a hand to his eyes to shield them from the setting son. “Is he coming?” 

“No. He totally forgot that he has you alone to himself for an entire weekend.” Darcy rolled her eyes. “Have you met your husband? He came like an hour early. Jane had to distract him so he wouldn't interrupt your brotherly bonding time.” 

“Are you sure you don’t mind watching Balder?” 

“It’s going to be awesome!” Balder broke in, mouth full of cheese. “We’re going to play video games and eat junk food!” 

“That’s the plan.” She grinned, winking at Loki. “I mean, I've got to be the cool Aunt somehow.” 

“Aunt Sif makes me run laps.” Wrinkling his nose, Balder shifted imperceptibly closer to Loki. “You’ll be back on Monday, right?” 

“Promise.” 

Balder didn't allow anyone to kiss him on the forehead anymore, but he accepted the hard hug Loki gave him. 

“Are you ready?” Thor’s voice rumbled over him like an oncoming storm. Loki looked up into the beloved face and smiled. 

“Yes.” He reached up a hand and took the one offered to him. “Where are we going?” 

“To Jotunheim.” Thor reached down ruffle Balder’s head in his own goodbye. “The King has invited us to sample their wines.” 

“And to spy on us no doubt.” Loki shook his head. “A diplomat’s job is never done, I see.” 

“I should hope not. I would see peace for many years to come. For all the years of my reign if I could.” 

They walked through the tall grass, hands entwined and the dark ink of runes on Loki’s arm brushing against the thin metal wire that lay beneath Thor’s skin. Behind them Darcy said something low and Balder began to laugh, his hiccuping gasps following them. 

“Many years ago,” Loki looked outward, over the swaying grasses, “we walked through the woods to a ruin. Do you remember?” 

“I will never forget.” Thor turned to look at him and the sun drew gold in his hair. “I fell in love with you then. Slender and strong, clever and quick with your hair as dark as the night. You haven’t changed much.” 

“Nor you.” Loki pinked at the compliment. “But...do you know, I’m not sure how I discovered that place. I knew as soon as I had that I would lead you there on those false pretenses. Only, I cannot recall how the rumor of them came to my ears.” 

“Does it matter now?” 

“It changed everything.” 

“How can you say that?” Thor challenged. “I would have loved you, no matter the quirks of history. We would always be here because we would not allow it any other way.” 

And for once, Loki kept his tongue. He drew Thor down into a kiss, there among the wildflowers of Midgard while under his skin Yggdrasil's leaves fluttered with the passing breeze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for everyone who came along this journey!


End file.
